1

Instructional Technology Leadership

ISTE NETS A Standard 5 Brief

Angela M. Blocher
 2

The safety and security of our students and staff has and always will be our number one priority.

As an educational administrator, it is necessary to make all attempts to protect our students from

all facets of potential risks. The age of technology has presented us with dangers and safety

concerns that reach beyond the brick and mortar of our school, district and local community.

With that said, standard five of the ISTE educational administrators standards addresses the

need to ensure, model and encourage safe use of all technology tools and devices, responsible

digital citizens and reasonable access of digital tools for all learners regardless of ability.

Administrators must continue to monitor and assess all school members utilizing digital tools to

ensure they are actively aware and trained to be responsible digital citizens.

At McDonald Elementary School, Georgetown, S.C, our school administrator works closely with

our district level technology coach to establish a yearlong plan for technology integration that

includes, first and foremost, an understanding of digital etiquette, safety and responsibility. All

students, regardless of grade level, are exposed to the necessities of being digitally responsible.

Age appropriate goals and objective are discussed and planned. Although we do not have a

specific technology mission, at this point, we do, however, have a set of standards developed for

each grade level. These range from teaching students in kindergarten how to properly turn on and

shutdown their computer, to instructing our fifth grade students how to verify an authentic digital

resource, cite sources and use technology as an appropriate form of communication and

collaboration.

All students at McDonald Elementary have access to a variety of digital devices; laptops,

desktops, iPads, tablets and interactive whiteboards. Because of the availability of digital

resources for our special needs population, we have designated iPads only for their use. Our

students range in age from three to twelve with specialty programs for preschool special needs
 3

students. Our newest initiative includes one-to-one availability for our third and fourth grade

students with a continued growth plan to include our fifth grade students. Additionally, these

devices, Chromebooks, will transition our district into our next phase of technology

implementation to include Google classroom. This initiative comes with extensive training and

high expectations of developing more digitally literate classrooms.

Although we havent delved into utilizing technology as a means for our students to

communicate directly, aside from teacher managed blogs which are used sparingly, we are

hoping the Google classroom environment will give us an opportunity to investigate and

implement more opportunities for communication and collaboration. Additionally, it is necessary

to consider the age level of our students when creating a safe and secure environment for

communication. Our students have been given their own email address but they havent been

directed how they can access it and use it constructively. This is still in the planning stages.

As a school community along with our administrator, we model the use of technology to

communicate through our website, Facebook page, email, GroupMe and Class Dojo. Our

administrator takes a brief moment each month to highlight an important safety and security tip

for remaining digitally responsible. She also shares a more appropriate tip with our student body

once a month during morning announcements.

Educational administrators are assigned a task to maintain, protect, demonstrate, encourage and

motivate all members of the school community to embrace and integrate a continually evolving

educational resource with unlimited possibilities. Technology integration will continue to play a

role in education. As it is with any resource, it takes direction and expectations from the top to

delegate and infiltrate throughout the pathways of our educational system. The ISTE standards
 4

provide a comprehensive framework for both administrators, teachers, student and coaches. They

give us direction and focus to ensure technology is utilized effectively, efficiently and safely.
 5

Bibliography

http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/standards-for-administrators

http://www.21things4administrators.net/capstone-5-digital-citizenship.html

http://www.gcsd.k12.sc.us/Default.asp?PN=DocumentUploads&L=3&DivisionID=15059&Depa
rtmentID=15765&SubDepartmentID=7237&LMID=655786&ToggleSideNav=